Dane Rudhyar is one of the greats of Astrology - whether you agree with him or not. The Sabian symbols are alleged to have been brought into existence by Marc Edmund Jones (also on the list of greats) and Elsie Wheeler in 1925 - and were later adapted and developed by Rudhyar.
There's evidence of some sort of similar systems being used in antiquity, if you want to know more about them try:
http://www.sabian.org/ssorigin.htm
There are a fair number of books which look at the Part of Fortune but few dedicated to it. There's a good chapter in Lee Lehman's Classical Astrology for Modern Living and a couple of good web references from Rob Hand
http://www.astrologix.de/artikel/rhand/rpof1.htm
On the events and heads - I'm not sure whether something that happens in your head is an event - unless we look at it purely in terms of electrical impulses and possibly the cardiovascular system. Events take place in an external world (however we define that) and are, at least in principle, observable and measureable.
Please don't take that as a denial of spiritual experiences or indeed psychological experiences, simply a questioning as to whether mental states and changes in mental states can be regarded as 'events'.
I think the main difference between traditional Astrology and the Psychological approach is that the latter starts from the work of the great psychologists, such as Freud and (especially) Jung. Psychologists are intrested in the workings of the mind, the nature of the 'self' and exploring the role of the collective unconscious in the human experience (amongst other things). Astrology provides a useful system of symbols which allow for a much more sophisticated examination of some of these concepts.
Because of the emphasis on the unconscious and subconscious mind, the Psychological Astrologer places a great deal of importance on Pluto, Neptune and Uranus (probably in that order) - as these planets which are literally hidden from view are seen as useful in symbolising that which is hidden from the view of the conscious mind.
Astrology is seen mainly as a means of extending and improving psychology and the practise of psychological counselling. Those areas of Astrology which are not of obvious or immediate psychological importance are not used. Thus relatively few psychological Astrologers take Horary seriously or event charts or mundane Astrology. Thus Natal Astrology is given pre-eminence.
Traditional Astrology starts from Astrology and its traditional methods and uses these to not only talk about the human condition (including human psychology) but also at a number of levels - from that of 'where did I leave my wallet' to 'What are the consequences for the USA of invading Iraq?'
Because psychology was arguably rudimentary, Traditional Astrology concentrated on prediction and events in the (alleged) 'real world'.
However, whilst they start from different standpoints, the gap is not as wide as I've perhaps suggested. Much of traditional Natal Astrology does look at 'character' but not in a language that post-Jungian generations would easily. The psychological approach is indeed very useful and socially helpful, through the role of Astrological Counsellors but it is not the whole of Astrology or even the main part of it.
